Changes to Find-A-Grave

Find A Grave has recently announced a new system for the posting of memorials for the “recently deceased” - which they define as those who have died within the past year - in an effort to give the families greater opportunity than they have had previously to control the death reports and memorials for their own loved ones.

The announcement has been posted on the Find A Grave website under the title “Memorials for those who are recently deceased,” and the new conditions stated applied from 11 January 2022.

 

^{Over the past few years there has been some controversy over people dedicated to the website adding memorials for anyone and everyone, scrolling newspaper death and funeral notices and rushing to create memorials for complete strangers.  For some it seems to be a numbers game, trying to create as many memorials as they can, as quickly possible.  There have been ongoing complaints by family members who have gone online to create a memorial for a loved one, only to find one already listed, owned by a complete stranger.  While some memorial creators have been happy for family members to take ownership of, and update or correct memorials, others have not.}

 

^{The new system announced attempts to address this issue, and while it is not perfect - there are still questions about editing existing memorials, proof of relationship and so on - it is certainly a big step in the right direction.}

WDYTYA Magazine February 2022

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.  

Inside this month’s issue

• Reading old handwriting
  How to decipher old documents
• Transcription Tuesday
  Discover the date and featured projects for our 2022 volunteer event
• The story of the 1921 census
  How the landmark records release was the most turbulent census collection of all time
• Using DNA Painter
  The website that can help you decipher your DNA test results
• Reader story
  Leila Barratt’s great grandfather escaped General Franco’s Spain
• Plus…
  The best websites for Victorian wars, using online newspaper collections, how to use FTAnalyzer and more

 

Famiy Record Sheets My Way

Over the years I have used several Family Record Sheets that I have downloaded to use when I am researching - these are what I use to scribble notes and record new data, and take with me when I am researching.  These sheets, however, never quite did just what I wanted, so a few years ago I decided to try creating my own.

After some trial and error, I finally created a Family Group Sheet I liked.  It was done using Microsoft Word, and I quickly realised that this meant I could easily type new data onto the sheets, save and print them, and this was MUCH easier than trying to read my own scribbled handwriting, especially after several corrections and additions.

My original sheets had the standard information - for both parents there was space for name, occupation, birth, marriage and death, their parents names and any other spouse(s).  Below there was space to record up to 10 children - birth, death, marriage and spouse's name - but unusually I included space to record birth and death for each spouse.  

Family Group Sheet example

 
The reverse side of each sheet was for notes - details of certificates and printouts held such as BMD certificates and extracts, census records, military files, wills, baptism or burial information, newspaper articles, stories and so on - all those little details that flesh out the names and dates.

I also discovered that using Word meant I could add a little color to my notes - printing male names in blue and female names in red, dates and places in purple and leaving all my headings black.  Later I added space to include baptism and burial information for both parents on the main page.  The resulting document can be downloaded here, and I am happy for anyone out there to save a master copy and use it if they wish.

Family Tree US Magazine

The latest issue of Family Tree US magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines. 

Inside this month's issue : 

• Family Business - A Ford factory tour employee discovers his great-grandfather worked there, too — before Ford even made cars.
  

• First Generation - Make these three kinds of records your first stop when researching immigrant ancestors.

• On Her Majesty's Census Service - Dive into the soon-to-be-released 1921 census of England and Wales with this guide.

• Lost in the Woods - Stay on course with these 7 tips for fact-checking information you find in online family trees.

• Being of Sound Mind… - Create a “genealogy will” that outlines for your heirs what you’d like for your research after you’ve passed on.

• Picture Day • Clothing clues and good ole-fashioned research help date this school class photo.

• Immigrant Ancestor Worksheet • Track known information about the immigrants in your family.

• And more...

 

Really Useful Podcasts - Episode 4

 

The Family History Federation has now launched Episode 4 of its new series of Really Useful Podcasts.

This new episode focuses on Social Media.  The website describes it : 

"Joe is joined by Andrew Martin, family historian, author, digital archivist and host of The Family Histories Podcast, Margaret Roberts, editor of the Playing Pasts online sports history magazine and Publicity Officer for the FHS of Cheshire and Daniel Loftus, Gen-Z Genealogist and founding member of The Hidden Branch group for young family historians.

Social media can be a fantastic tool for both the individual family historian and societies to communicate and connect. We discuss the different platforms, their pros and cons and our guests offer some top tips on using them."

As a dedicated user of social media for genealogy, I have been using social media platforms Blogger and Twitter for a number of years, but there is always new information to be gained in how to best use various platforms.   This podcast helped me see new ways to get the most out of my time and resources - many thanks to the presenters.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

I have decided that this year I will again participate in the '52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks' challenge, run by the wonderful Amy Johnson Crow.  This free challenge will see participants receive a weekly prompt that they can respond to, and helps get respondents thinking and talking about their family history discoveries.

As Amy's website explains, the challenge can be responded to in any way you like.  Write a blog post, make a video, share a photo, send a message to relatives - how you interpret and react to each weekly prompt is entirely up to you.

So take a look at the challenge and decide if it is for you.  If it is, sign up for Amy's 52 Week challenge and see where it takes you.  #52Ancestors

GEDCOM Files

The GEDCOM file format was created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, owners of FamilySearch, as a means of transferring family tree data from one genealogical website or software program to another, a wonderful tool for genealogists everywhere. 

GEDCOM is an acronym for Genealogical Data Communication.  The original GEDCOM file specification was released in 1984 and the latest version, GEDCOM 7.0, was released in 2021.  GEDCOM files use the ‘.ged’ suffix (in the same way a Word document has the suffix ‘.doc’). If someone shares a .ged file with you, then you will need to upload it to a family tree website or software to be able to read it.

Virtually all major family history software products and websites support the GEDCOM file format (I've never come across one which doesn't, but am happy to be corrected). This means that if you have your family tree stored on a website or you have created it using standard family tree building software, then you should be able to export your tree easily to upload it elsewhere.

There are limitations with GEDCOM and over the years its various versions have tried to resolve some of these.  This includes changing ideas of what constitutes a family unit (ie same-sex marriages) and the way the format is used slightly differently by different products.

It is important to be aware that not everything you may have added to your family tree will import into a new program from a GEDCOM file in exactly the way you expect.  Attached photographs and documents may not transfer well between products and it is possible to lose things like free form notes when exporting and importing.  So if you are transferring data from one place to another it is wise to check all your data appears as you would expect.